Feb. 27, 2006

WCC Tournament Press Conference - Live Audio!

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San Bruno, Calif. - With the conclusion of the West Coast Conference men's basketball regular season, conference squads now turn their attention to the WCC Tournament, which begins on Friday, March 3 at Gonzaga University's McCarthey Athletic Center.

The host Bulldogs secured the top seed, posting a perfect 14-0 record in conference play for the second time in the last three seasons. Loyola Marymount and Saint Mary's tied for second place in the WCC regular season standings with identical 8-6 conference records. The Lions own the tiebreaker versus the Gaels and are the No. 2 seed in the WCC Tournament thanks to their 2-0 record versus fourth place San Francisco. Following No. 3 Saint Mary's and No. 4 San Francisco (7-7) is San Diego at the No. 5 spot with a 6-8 league mark. Portland and Santa Clara tied for sixth place in the league standings with identical 5-9 conference records. The Broncos earn the No. 6 seed by virtue of a season sweep of the Pilots, while UP is the No. 7 seed and Pepperdine is the No. 8 seed.

By garnering the top two seeds, Gonzaga and LMU receive byes until the semifinals on March 5th. Saint Mary's and San Francisco receive first round byes and will play in the quarterfinals on March 4th. First round action will begin on March 3rd with San Diego taking on Pepperdine followed by Santa Clara versus Portland in the nightcap. The winner of the San Diego/Pepperdine game will advance to face San Francisco in the first quarterfinal on March 4th, while Saint Mary's awaits the winner of the Santa Clara/Pepperdine game in the second quarterfinal.

The 2006 WCC Tournament marks the first time that the conference's premier event has been held at Gonzaga University. This season is the first of a two-year site rotation in the Pacific Northwest for the WCC Tournament. The 2007 event is scheduled to be held at Portland, while the tournament is slated to move to Southern California for the 2008 and 2009 seasons before returning to the Bay Area in 2010 and 2011.

WCC Men's Tournament Seeds
1. Gonzaga
2. Loyola Marymount
3. Saint Mary's
4. San Francisco
5. San Diego
6. Santa Clara
7. Portland
8. Pepperdine

WCC Men's Tournament Match-ups
Friday, March 3 - First Round
No. 5 San Diego vs. No. 8 Pepperdine - 6:00 PM (PST)
No. 6 Santa Clara vs. No. 7 Portland - 30 min. after game 1

Saturday, March 4 - Quarterfinals
No. 5/No. 8 winner vs. No. 4 San Francisco - 6:00 PM
No. 6/No. 7 winner vs. No. 3 Saint Mary's - 30 min. after game 1

Sunday, March 5 - Semifinals
Quarterfinal No. 1 winner vs. No. 1 Gonzaga - 5:00 PM (ESPN2)
Quarterfinal No. 2 winner vs. No. 2 Loyola Marymount - 7:00 PM (ESPN2)

Monday, March 6 - Final
Championship Game - 6:00 PM (ESPN)